Is this true? School 1957 vs. 2010

[sinkingfeeling]

Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

2010 - Police called, arrests Johnny and Mark.. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it. Both children go to anger management programs for 3 months. School board hold meeting to impliment bullying prevention programs

Scenario:
Robbie won't be still in class, disrupts other students.

1957 - Robbie sent to office and given 6 of the best by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2010 - Robbie given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. Robbie's parents get fortnightly disability payments and School gets extra funding from state because Robbie has a disability.

Scenario :
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

20010 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.

Scenario :
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1957 - Mark gets glass of water from Principal to take aspirin with.

2010 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.


Scenario :
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from Guy Fawkes, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a bullant nest.

1957 - Ants die.

2010- State Police, Star Force, Federal Police & Anti-terrorism Squad called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, Feds investigate parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated. Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario :
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary . Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2010 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

[myrna minx]

1. What do you think?

This is pure RW 'life was better in the old days when we had no seat belts and DDT' BS.

[Scuba]

5. Nailed it.

[racaulk]

36. Yep

Typical right-wing fantasies about how life was better before liberals ruined everything with their political correctness.

:eyes:

Absolute garbage.

[proud2BlibKansan]

85. +1

[Statistical]

2. Anyone think it is weird that a scenario involving American schools has reference to Guy Fawkes day?

What is the last time you celebrated Guy Fawkes day w/ firecrackers in the US?
Quick without wikipedia how many people even know WHEN Guy Fawkes day is?

Hell is it weren't for 'V is for Vendetta' 99% of Americans likely wouldn't know such a person existed (as it is many likely think he is a fictional character made up for the movie).

[myrna minx]

6. USA : Guy Fawkes and apple pie.

:rofl: I noticed that too.

[JVS]

13. Back in 1957 we didn't go around stealing our dumb chain letters from British sources.

[WinkyDink]

16. Every year! It's my birthday! (Kidding about the firecrackers!)

[Pab Sungenis]

40. And "6 of the best," too.

British slang for a caning. Never used in American discussion.

Looks like something someone rewrote part of.

[HughBeaumont]

3. I'm guessing a wingnut harkening back to the days of "Good ol' Character Building"?

Funny; all bullying, paddling and spanking did to me was make me dislike people, not trust adults and left me with a short fuse that doesn't put up with much. I won't go to bars or teabagger rallies because these exact types that believe in this "see what happens when GUBMINT interferes" garbage hang out there.

People don't get better from physical confrontation. Some are better at bottling up than others.

And the last three are plain and simple hyperbole. Come on. The stories of institutions being THAT extreme can be counted on one hand.

[Papa Boule]

35. Which were also the days of Jim Crow

n/t

[MichiganVote]

4. Exaggerate much?

[Regret My New Name]

7. Except for the asprine one... That actually does happen a lot.

[JVS]

18. Am I the only one who thinks that children shouldn't be carrying and dosing medication?

In my school, such things were the domain of the school nurse and if you needed medication she gave it to you.

[uncommon]

34. Indeed, at least up until high school.

[Regret My New Name]

41. Oh, yeah. I'm thinking I agree with that...

I tend to find the overreactions more problematic. Unless the kid is a repeat offender, I always find it ridiculous when they suspend a kid for having some advil or something.

[Art_from_Ark]

83. None of my schools had a school nurse

If a student became sick, s/he went to "sick bay" until they got better, or could have a parent come and get them, or could go home on their own.

[Pab Sungenis]

42. Kids are supposed to give medication to the nurse or the office

who will see to its administration.

If you have a headache when you leave and go to the school nurse, he/she will most likely give you an analgesic.

And today a kid of a certain age would NEVER be given aspirin. Not with Reyes' Syndrome. They'd be given Tylenol or ibuprofen.

[earthside]

11. Not exaggerted.

Just do some internet searching for 'zero tolerance' horror stories. There are many, many incidents similar to the ones described in the original post that happen every year.

No kidding ... third graders running on the grass is discouraged at schools, I've seen it with my own eyes, with my own kids. No kidding, I know middle school kids who have been suspended because they didn't remove their baseball cap during a school assembly -- suspended! No kidding, I attended a 'seminar' at an elementary school where the message was that every kid's uncle is a potential pedophile, so we should all be suspicious all the time.

I don't know many people who really want to return to the days of corporal punishment in the schools, but common sense, basic courtesy, simple disciple, and understanding that kids have a right to a childhood is gone in the public schools. Mostly because of idiotic administrative 'zero tolerance' policies and abject fear of the 'helicoptering' parent.

[hedgehog]

19. I think the bullying that used to be physical has been turned into alternate channels.

Instead of beating the kid for having a smart mouth, he gets suspended for wearing a hat in assembly.

The hat wearing seems to be a real trigger. Some adults see red and a lot of kids dig in and insist on wearing a hat. IMO, there are a lot of class issues involved.

[earthside]

44. Oh, yes.

I agree about class issues.

And there is bad "political correctness" that I think becomes anti-free speech and has class overtones.

For instance, here in Jefferson County Colorado schools, a kid cannot wear a t-shirt or hat that even has Coors brewery listed as a sponsor of say, a charity run ... because it "promotes" the use of alcohol (which is still legal here in Colorado, by the way). Furthermore, Coors is a major employer and pays a big chunk of property tax that support the schools.

So, some poor kid (and I mean poor, for example) gets a free t-shirt, wears it to school and gets sent home because Coors is listed on the back of the clothing as a sponsor of a charity event.

Now, I cannot stand Coors for multiple reasons not germane here, but holy cow, how anal can the school administration get?

Indeed, I think this is about the authority figures in the schools 'bullying' the kids.

What does this kind of behavior from the school teach kids?

[Gaedel]

57. Back in the 40s and 50s

Your hat better damn well come off your head as soon as you breached the plane of the school door and remain off your head until you breached the plane of the door on your way out.

In addition to the teachers, the Asst Principal employed a small army of the most officious girls in the school with armbands that said "Duty Girl" as hall monitors to prevent running in the halls, going up the wrong side of the stair case, coming in late, or, HORRORS, wearing a hat in school. I think they were trained by the Gestapo.

[MineralMan]

8. Sounds like right-winger stuff to me.

I was in school in 1957 (7th grade). None of that stuff happened then. Or rarely, anyhow.

Johnny and Mark kept fighting, day after day. When they were 21, Mark knifed Johnny behind the gas station. 1957

Robbie never did quit disrupting class. When he was 14, he went to juvenile hall for stealing cigarettes. 1957

Billy's dad never found out that Billy broke the window. Neither did the car owner. Billy wasn't that fucking stupid. 1957

Mark went to the school nurse in 1957, and she gave him the aspirin. Kids didn't carry aspirin around then, either.

Johnny blew up the ant nest and got a splinter of glass in his eye. They took him to the doctor, who removed the splinter. Dad kicked Johnny's butt for doing dangerous crap. 1957


Johnny fell down? Big deal. He continued with his activities and had a blood stain on his jeans. A week later he picked the scab off. Both years.

[hfojvt]

37. I had to question the first too

It was not that common for people to fight and then become friends, in fact, it probably never happened, but escalation that you describe was not that common either.

[Gaedel]

58. fights

Most people fought with their friends. You just tried to avoid the bullies, you never wanted to fight with them. Fights with friends were over misunderstandings that were quickly resolved.

[Art_from_Ark]

My year of reference is 1968

1968-- Johnny and Mark may, or may not, have become the "best of friends" after the fight. Depends on what the fight was about. In my case, a "girlfriend" arranged to have me fight some new kid on the playground after school. So I met the guy after school, and I said, "I'm not going to fight you over this girl". And he said "I was going to tell you the same thing". So we shook hands without exchanging a punch.

1968-- Class disruptors were given a paddling. If they persisted, there was a meeting with the parents. Sometimes, disruptors were transferred to "Special Ed".

1968-- Billy tried to keep the broken window a secret, but there were witnesses and the word eventually got around to dad, who took off his belt when Billy got home.

1968-- Kids needed permission to have any kind of medicine.

1968-- Johnny blew up ant's nest but it was with a hollowed out smoke bomb that had been packed with gunpowder from Black Cat firecrackers. Friends thought it was funny. Mom scolded Johnny for doing something stupid and dangerous. Dad said "Boys will be boys."

1968-- Johnny fell down and scraped his knee but shrugged it off. Wouldn't be caught dead being seen getting a hug from the teacher, because then he'd be teased as being "teacher's pet".

[Xithras]

9. One of those has some truth to it.

Scenario :
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1957 - Mark gets glass of water from Principal to take aspirin with.

2010 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.


http://classic.feministing.com/archives/014660.html
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/01/girls_suspended_at_birmingham.html
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/27/10-year-old-accused-of-drug-dealing-for-peppermint-oil-suspended/

School administrators can be incredibly stupid in their zero-tolerance enforcement of the War On (some) Drugs. Hundreds of kids have been suspended or expelled from school, and a few criminally charged, for using legal OTC medicine on school grounds. A few have been charged for simply having things that were "drug-like", even though they had no pharmacological value. This is nothing new though...my little sister was suspended from high school in the early 90's because a friend gave her some "pot gum". For those that don't remember that fad, it was chewing gum that smelled a little like marijuana, but contained absolutely no drugs of any sort. One of her teachers found it, decided that it was a "drug", and her principal threw her out for 10 days and recommended expulsion. The girl who had HANDED OUT the gum to a few of her friends was initially arrested at the principals request, but was later released when they realized that she hadn't broken any laws. And when the drug test on my sister came back negative? Crickets. The suspensions stood anyway (though they did back off the expulsion request).

[Javaman]

10. Scenario: Johnny, who is white, beats up Joseph who is African American.

1957: Nothing happens. Johnny is back slapped by his moronic racist principle. Joesph is told to shut up and sit in the back of the class room.

Today: Johnny gets his ass sued and brought up on charges of assault and battery.

Yeah, every thing was so much better back in 1957. :eyes:

[Joe Fields]

22. 1957? Chances are that the school was segregated.

No, for many, those days weren't golden, that is true. Aside from open racism, I would say that normal every day life was better, and a great deal more common sense was used.

Jim Crow, segregation, open hatred toward blacks were the open and festering wounds from that era. In many instances, I don't think we have come far enough today. When I was growing up, I used to think that racism would be a thing of the past by the time I reached adulthood. The 1960's showed so much promise. Now I am resigned that it will never be stamped out.

[Javaman]

27. I wasn't talking about intergregation...

I was talking about the how the African-American population was still be treated.

While schools were still being intergrated in 1957, nothing said that African-American students were being treated "nicely" by their fellow white students. It was far from the case.

However, here is a little refresher...

http://www.centralhigh57.org/1957-58.htm

September 4, 1957 The nine black students attempt to enter Central High but are turned away by the National Guard.

snip

September 23, 1957 As a crowd of 1,000 mills around in front of the school, the nine black students go inside through a side door. A white student takes them to the principal's office where they are to receive their class assignments. When the mob learns the students are inside, it becomes unruly and the police fear they will be unable to maintain control. The black students are taken out of the school through a side door.

snip

September 25, 1957 Under escort by the Army troops, the nine black students are escorted back into Central High.

snip

December, 1957 Taunted by white male students, Minnijean Brown, one of the black students, dumps a bowl of chili on her antagonists in the cafeteria. She is suspended for six days.

This is just one school.

Here's another...
http://news.webshots.com/photo/2122032490014762256OOpmvZ

[Joe Fields]

38. I don't need a refresher. I wasn't disagreeing with you...

on how poorly blacks were treated. I witnessed some of it.

[Javaman]

43. Cheers to you to. Peace.

:)

[hfojvt]

26. The white guy won?

I'm checking Snopes on that.

[Javaman]

29. ?

I hope you are referring to my use of grammar and not the content.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

45. so, you disregard what are potentially valid points

to inject racism? ...interesting.

sP

[liberal N proud]

12. Schools do not get extra funding for ADD or ADHD kids

That is why it is so difficult to get them to act on a kid to get a 504 plan. They don't want to spend the money it takes to take care of extra needs children.

[booley]

14. Ahh the Golden Age

Which oddly is always right before memory starts being accurate.

The Golden age now seems to be in the 50s. In the 50s the Golden age was probably the 20s. And in 30 years today will be the golden age (Gods help us)

Naturally I'm a bit cynical with the idea that we can solve our problems by going back to how it used to be, especially when "how it used to be" is often nothing like how it used to be.

Golden ages just seem a form of psychological comfort food. They make us feel better but it's empty calories.

[Joe Fields]

15. Having lived during that time period, and witnessed what is

happening today, the scenarios from 1957 are pretty much accurate. The scenarios from today may be a little extreme, although I have read about instances that mirror some of those. They are most likely rare, otherwise they wouldn't be in the news.

I wouldn't say that this is all "rightwinger bullshit," as some suggest.

[wtmusic]

21. You shook hands with someone who just kicked your ass?

Nonsense.

[Joe Fields]

24. Not me personally, but I've seen it happen.

[slackmaster]

53. I did that once, in 8th grade gym class

Guy punched me in the solar plexus after I said something he didn't like. Coach made us both apologize and shake hands.

[wtmusic]

74. IMO a coach would be just as willing today.

Same thing happened to me, btw. Except no coach was around to make us shake. I don't think I could have anyway, I was trying too hard to breathe.

[wtmusic]

17. Ah, if only more kids got a good belt-whipping

and the world was an idealized caricature the way I think I remember it.

[Warpy]

20. Wingnut mail is always overstated

in such a way as to provoke hysteria among Generation Suck and convince them to run around with misspelled Let's Make a Deal signs because the country is clearly going to hell because of all this liberalism.

In 1957, Johnny and Mark had the fight and Johnny's goons got into it and Mark ended up in the hospital. Nobody tried to stop it and Johnny was the cock of the walk. Nobody was gonna mess with him, no sir. He ended up in prison, of course, since nobody ever gave a shit about teaching him anger management.

Robbie didn't get paddled, he got detention and he was just as big an asshole after school as he was in school, unable to sit or focus. He ended up in juvie, of course, before embarking on a long life of crime because he wasn't able to get an education. Medication might have saved him from that.

And so on and so forth. The good old days weren't good and the present days aren't any worse, just different.

[Posteritatis]

23. Email forwards are never true. (nt)

[AngryAmish]

32. I read that in an email someone sent me once

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

25. Half truths, full lies.

Scenario:
Robbie won't be still in class, disrupts other students.

1957 - Robbie sent to office and given 6 of the best by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again. Robbie drops out of school. Becomes deliquent. Grows up a drunk and child beater. Kids won't sit still in class.

2010 - Robbie given adequate doses of Ritalin. Excels at school. Goes to college. Becomes successful.

Scenario :
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up. Becomes abusive father.

2010 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy raised by mother. Grows up normally.


Scenario :
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1957 - Mark gets glass of water from Principal to take aspirin with. Gets Rhys syndrome. Dies.

2010 - Headache goes away. Can focus in class.

Scenario :
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from Guy Fawkes, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a bullant nest.

1957 - Ants die.

2010- Gets deported back to England for being an illegal immigrant.

Scenario :
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary . Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing. Later, Johnny gets polio. Spends next twenty years in iron lung.

2010 - Mary sends Johnny to school nurse where he gets antibiotics, maybe a band aid.

[Jkid]

46. You forgot about the fist fight between Johnny and Mark.

But all the other corrections are more realistic.

[Matariki]

48. rofl!!

"Gets deported back to England for being an illegal immigrant" :rofl:

[uppityperson]

60. 1957 Johnny grows up to head the GOP in 2000.

I was going to post what you did, thanks for doing it. I like the ant/firecracker one.

[Wickerman]

28. Is it true? Every fucking word!

:sarcasm:

:eyes:

[slackmaster]

30. There is more than a kernel of truth in each of those scenarios, but the picture is incomplete

Things like corporal punishment being normal and legal in schools, institutionalized segregation, what happened to teenage girls who got pregnant, etc.

Little things like that.

[Fire1]

31. By George, I think you've got it!! Many of us right on this

board grew up under the 1957 scenario's and grew up to be fine productive citizens. I feel so sorry for the parents and children of today and thank God mine made it to college.

[uncommon]

33. Ugh what garbage.

I hope that was the point.

Hitting a child with a belt *is* abuse.

[Fire1]

39. No it isn't. n/t

[uncommon]

52. I do think we overdo it with anti-litigation measures, but I absolutely do not think it is ok to hit

children - especially other people's children.

[Fire1]

59. I never hit other people's children even when given

authorization to do so from the parents. However, I think if more parents spanked their children this would not be an issue.

[Joe Fields]

64. thank you. nothing wrong with spanking a child.

Hitting a child, though is outrageous. There is a difference here that many on this board refuse to see.

[uncommon]

70. There is a difference between "spanking" and beating with a belt.

I don't hit my daughter at all, but I understand a small amount of corporal punishment should be a parent's choice.

Hitting with a belt is unacceptable.

[Joe Fields]

72. agree. Hitting with a belt is completely unacceptable.

[wtmusic]

73. Spanking is hitting without having to look your child in the eye.

That way, they'll never know that it's not just punishment but retribution. Or will they?

[Joe Fields]

76. That's just flat wrong, IMO

If you honestly don't know the difference between spanking an unruly child and hitting , then you haven't given much thought to the subject.

There is a huge difference. If you choose not to see that, then so be it.

[wtmusic]

80. Believe me, I've given lots of thought to the subject.

Spanking might be expedient for adults, but it's never, ever necessary.

I have two of the best behaved kids in the world as proof. I've never laid a hand on them.

[Luminous Animal]

84. Good for you. Hitting a child, no matter what a person calls it, is child abuse.

I don't hit children and not one parent I associate with has ever hit their children. All of the kids, from ages 3-20, are well behaved.

[Edweird]

47. I was born in 1970 and that pretty much summed up my experience.

Maybe not word for word (I never celebrated Guy Fawkes day) but the gist of it is reasonably accurate. Things have definitely gone off the deep end fear and hysteria wise.

[onpatrol98]

49. Wow!

My parents are as liberal as they come...but they definitely believed in the power of the belt. Although, it's not my discipline method of choice, I didn't consider it abuse. I still don't. Can people be abusive with it? Yes. But, you can be abusive and not use any discipline method at all. My father would use a belt on us...occasionally. It generally didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out HOW NOT TO GET THE BELT. And, to know, his preference was not to spank us. It was the one of the few "tools in his toolkit" as a young father at the time. This is the same man who would cringe, today, if we even "considered" spanking one of his grandchildren. People evolve.

But, there were things some of my friends parents would say to their children that my father wouldn't dream of saying to us. They weren't using a belt. But, they could take degradation to a whole new level.

I don't think its a right wing talking point for someone to compare what is perceived as a simpler time of life. As a black person, you couldn't pay me to return to 1957. I was born in 1970 and I don't want to go back there, either. But, I get the point of the OP. It was an interesting read.

We have some of these new rules because of previous bad actors...abusive parents, no medicine on campus, physical contact...now people abuse the new rules. It's just a never ending cycle. But, I think we're trying to progress. Suspending kids for not wearing belts, or wearing hats...just plain silly.

Although...I do get tired of seeing kids' underwear. Oh, well.

[superconnected]

50. I agree with this but this could even be in the 70's to mid 80's when I went to school.

Guy Fawkes? This is England? I had no idea England was as screwed up as America.

[Wounded Bear]

51. And outside of school...

1957: Top income tax rate 90% Full employment

2010: Top income tax rate 35% 15-20% unemployment.

[slackmaster]

54. True, but the number of people who made over $400,000 in 1957 was negligible

The top tax bracket affected only a tiny number of tax returns.

The median income in 1957 was around $2,452. Only 2.4% of non-farm workers made over $10,000.

http://www.truthandpolitics.org/top-rates.php

http://www2.census.gov/prod2/popscan/p60-028.pdf

[Gaedel]

61. No

"1957: Top income tax rate 90% Full employment"


1957: Economy OK

1958: Recession that hurt pretty bad. Democratic Party gets solid majority in House which lasts till 1994. Lots of unemployment.

1961: President John F. Kennedy pushes legislation to drop top rate from 91% to 70% to help eliminate the rolling recessions that plagued the Eisenhower years.

[Lorien]

55. The Right wing sure puts out a lot of that crap

Authoritarians have a weird way of projecting their fantasies onto others.

[xchrom]

56. 'zero toloerance' and their 'stories' inspire more fear than osama bin ladin.

:eyes:

[Jennicut]

62. This is garbage and a typical slap at Gen X parents. Being the mom of 5 and 6 year olds,

I can attest that this is crap and that most parents today are not hyper hysterical.

[uncommon]

71. Amen to that - my daughter is 6 and I don't fit any of those

stereotypes of modern parenting. I also still manage not to have to smack her every time she misbehaves.

[Jennicut]

82. Yeah, I mean hitting with a belt. I know no one that does that anymore.

My brother and I were never hit either and we grew up in the 1980's!

[Joe Fields]

77. Easy for you to say, since you weren't around in the fifties and sixties.

I was, and it isn't a load of crap.

[Jennicut]

81. The 50's were not perfect but I was talking about the stereoptypes of parents of today.

None of my friends in their 20's and 30's and none of their kids fit these stereotypes. It is a typical low blow by baby boomers to put down the parents of today. No era is ever perfect. During the 50's, when my parents went to elementary school, my mother told me about being hit with a ruler and put down by teachers. There was no support for those kids that were going through something traumatic and there were loads of things that kids were not allowed to talk about. I went to school in the 80's and I think it improved from then. I was never hit by a teacher. Now my own kids are in kindergarten and first grade and there is no ridiculous rules in their school. This is a Rethug argument as well, to take us back to the "golden era". There was no golden era, when women were told to know their place and many schools were not segregated. It is total bull. Some schools have issues and some don't.

[proteus_lives]

63. It's over the top but Zero Tolerance policies are fucking stupid.

[TexasObserver]

65. Closer to the truth than most such emails, but still exaggerated.

The truth is we have made far too many things illegal, we do overreact grossly to conflict and misconduct, and we have lost our way regarding smart discipline of wayward kids.

[Blue_In_AK]

66. Speaking as an old fogey who was 11 in 1957 and in sixth grade,

I see some grains of truth here, although the comparisons may be a bit over the top.

[cynatnite]

67. 1957....segregation ruled. Those were the days...

:sarcasm:

[Sparkly]

75. Really!! Discrimination, sexual harassment, unequal opportunity, lots of Miltown!

"The good old days" before the civil rights and women's movements made the strides we rely on today.

Not to mention all the "duck and cover" and "red scare" McCarthy paranoia going on...

[Danger Mouse]

68. Some of it makes a point, some of it is right-wing tripe.

:shrug:

[rucky]

69. That was quaint. n/t

[Rochester]

78. Makes me glad I'll never have to deal with a school again.

My school days are behind me and I won't reproduce, so I'm home free on that one:)

[NoPasaran]

79. Johnny is thrilled when teacher tells class about Sputnik

1957: Local Red Squad investigates Johnny's family, uncovers petition Johnny's father signed in 1937 urging FDR to help Spanish Republic, father loses job.

2010: Classmates peg Johnny as a nerd.

[proud2BlibKansan]

86. Somewhere around 1957, our neighbor knocked on our door in the middle of the night

Her husband had beat the shit out of her. She was bleeding. She had one kid wrapped in a blanket crying and the other was clinging to her leg. She asked my dad for help.

So he invited her in and called the police. The police said sorry but their policy was not to interfere in domestic disputes.

So my dad spent a couple hours calming her down and finally talked her into calling her family and her brother came and picked her and her kids up and we all went back to bed.

Another time somewhere around 1957, we had another neighbor we used to see at church with her husband. We didn't see her for several weeks but her husband was there in his same pew, every Sunday. I finally asked my parents where this woman was and they just looked at each other and looked down and didn't answer me. So I asked my grandmother. She explained that the woman had died from an illegal abortion.

That's how I learned about abortions.

Because I am old enough to remember 1957, I have no desire to go back to that dark time. And emails like the one you posted in the OP are delusional pieces of crap usually circulated by ignorant wingnuts who are either too young or are refusing to remember what 1957 was really like.

[LostInAnomie]

87. Not far from the truth.

Especially, the aspirin. Kids were suspended numerous times for something similar at the school I used to teach at.

Honestly, most of these aren't that far off. The ridiculous zero tolerance rules, hyper-sensitivity to everything, and constant fear of litigation have made many school policies a fucking joke. I remember when I was teaching we had an official memo placed in out mail boxes telling us to refrain from saying "Oh, shoot!" because the administrators were afraid it would encourage gun violence. One of my students was suspended because she said "Oooo... I could just kill him." after her boyfriend wouldn't push her on the swing.